One Night
by DustTilDawn
Summary: Previously one-shot. Nora can project dreams and thoughts. Target: Lie Ren. Choice: Happy dream of killing Ursas. Alternative: Seemingly endless nightmares. The choice is easy. In memory of Monty Oum. The light of RWBY, and Godfather of animated dancing. We miss you.
1. I had a Dream

**A/N: This story will be told from the alternating perspectives of Ren and Nora.**

Nora

Here we were again! I knew it. I've been doing this same quest for months. It was the middle of the night. The moon looked slightly more shattered than usual. I could see the red eyes of Ursai surrounding me from every corner but I could take them down easily. The main problem was Ren. He was absolutely helpless without me. I mean sure, he was a great student, but I was the real fighter in this relationship. Not relationship relationship, but you get what I mean.

Anyway, I ran in the direction of town. I knew I was in the Emerald Forest and the place was crawling with Grim. As long as I could find Ren, he would be alright. It was urgent. I had to save him. I had to help him.

This was me and Ren. Ren and me. Or is it I? Well, whatever. It doesn't matter. Ren was important. He was exciting. The latest adventure was always waiting with him around. He was too exciting, like a whirl of pink bombs.

"Ren! I screamed as I ran. "Ren!" I would've rode on Magnhild but there was nothing to give me a good enough boost and I didn't want to waste bullets. He could hold out for a few minutes. He was weaker than me but Ren wasn't _that weak. _Know what I mean?

Ren

Here we were again... Nora was having this same dream yet again. It's been going on for nearly a month now without rest. I was getting sick of it, and I'm not sure how she wasn't. Her dreams were too realistic in every sense of the word. It was her semblance. She could project herself into the minds of others and alter their thoughts. She did it with me every night. I tried not to sleep of the time but coffee could only get me so far.

It was the middle of the day. The sun was hot. The air felt dry. Nora remembers every detail incorrectly even though she knows it's a dream and she's the one controlling it. This was all very frustrating. Earlier in the week, I had started to wonder whether or not this was actually my dream, and Nora was just interfering with it, but I knew it wasn't. I didn't have dreams.

Nora's dreams were very easy to pinpoint. The scenes and events remained the same every time. That was Nora's personality seeping in. She didn't change. Her thoughts and feelings about everything, if left alone would always remain the same. Because of that, I know that there are two Beowolves in the trees right now. I didn't even have to look to know they were there. Everything happens the same way, more or less. She just liked to change the story on her own whims.

She seemed to appear in completely different places in every dream even though it was technically the same dream. However, she acts the same every time. I could hear her now, screaming my name as she ran down the path. In fact, I could see her now, running down the path and screaming my name.

And she's stopped. She must've seen something shiny or interesting in the trees. It was hard to ever hold her attention unless food was involved.

Nora

I couldn't see him. He must be so afraid right now, wondering where his almighty protector was. I had to help him. I had to protect him! I had to—Ooh, a sloth. They were such funny-looking animals. They made so little noise and they had such long hair. All they ever did was eat and sleep and yet, they were so skinny with their flimsy limbs. In fact, this one in particular was particularly cute.

His fur was all black and long. A couple strands were pink. It reminded me of Ren. And because it reminded me of Ren, I remembered Ren! I remembered that he was still in danger, and he needed my help! I turned to keep running but I hadn't needed to run any further, because there was Ren! Standing right next to me, completely nude except for a towel!

"Nora…"

"Yes, Ren?"

"What are you doing?"

"Talking to this sloth that looks just like you."

Ren

There was in fact, a sloth in front of her surprisingly. However, it didn't actually look like me. It just happened to be wearing my clothes, which was in fact, nothing new. I tended to enter these dreams either fully nude or somewhere close to it. However, she had a decent enough mind to let my clothes be somewhere nearby, probably on top of a tree or in this case, on a poor defenseless animal.

She talked to the sloth as I dressed myself. We had about 2 minutes before the beowolves attacked, as was customary. They wouldn't move unless the two of us were together. I wish I had a lint roller. The sloth left a lot of fur on my clothes.

Nora

The sloth was just awfully cute. He had such tiny eyes and a crazy huge body. And look at those tiny paws, and his sharp claws. Oh, I just wanted to squish him to death. However, as Ren put clothes on, I noticed that the sloth didn't look as much like him as I'd thought. He just had the same quiet demeanor. Yeah, Ren had the attitude of this sloth!

As I moved to touch it, it ran away. The earth was shaking. Something was coming from the trees. I turned and saw them. Dozens of Ursa surrounded us on all sizes. They were a varying degree of shapes and sizes. Now that Ren and I were together, they would be no match. We would take them down with ease.

I was right of course. They were down in a matter of minutes. We dragged them to town and had a weapons smith who looked a lot like Pyrrha skin them. It was glorious, they pelt was all soft and fluffy. I almost didn't want to sell them myself. But we had to! The temptation of the lien was just too great! We had to. There were boatloads of lien and a melon castle. There would be pancakes. There would be PANCAKES! Without lien, how could Ren buy groceries to make pancakes?

Ren

The two Beowolves dived from the trees. They were immensely large, but I knew they'd be relatively weak. For one thing, this was a dream. For another, they were only large because Nora expected me to skin them and sell them as rugs.

We each took one although either of us could've finished them off without much of a problem. Nora liked to pretend that she believed we were equal, but she was stronger than me in terms of raw power. She knew it, I knew it, and she knew I knew she knew it. I dragged both bodies back to town, one in each hand. Nora should've helped had she not been so fascinated by everything around her: shiny things, pink things, nude little old ladies on occasion.

When we reached town, Pyrrha was waiting for us to skin the Beowolves. I'd asked her about this before, but she had only vague memories of it because even though this had been happening every day for nearly a month, she was only pulled into the dream for this one moment. As Nora once explained, her own dream would dissolve, she'd enter here for about 2 minutes to help us skin the Beowolves, and then she'd return to her original dream before waking up.

In any case, she skinned the Beowolves and we traded them with Juane for a paper boat holding a few lien and about 3 melons. She's standing on tops of the melons as we speak.

"Ahahahaha! I'm Queen of the castle. I'm queen of the castle!"

Nora

I was looking over the land. I traded the Ursa-skinned rugs for a boatload of lien and a castle. I was the queen of this melon castle. All this town and its melons belonged to me. I smiled upon my kingdom, gracing them with my divine love and happiness. Yes, my kingdom of melons would be a lovely place.

From where I was standing I could see Ren talking to the Ursa rug trader who looked like Juane. My smile slacked just a little. We would wake up in a few minutes and this dream would be over. It would be morning and that would mean that another 24 hours passed. Another day had come and gone. These adventures with Ren were fun, he never got sick of them or of me. In all my years of being his friend, he had never once told me I was annoying or to go away.

I looked forward to these dreams every night, even more than a late night snack of pancakes. Which are always delicious. It was a little more time in the day that I could spend with him. Ren was good at everything. He was smart, handsome, and a good cook. He would make a great wife someday for some lucky person out there, and he would leave me behind. Me, his best friend, will be left behind.

From the time we were babies at the hospital he was next to me. He sat next to me in Signal. He sleeps next to me here at Beacon, but how long will that last? He won't be with me forever. In four years, we'll all graduate. He'll be a great Hunstman, and I'll just be me. I'll still be the same, silly, hyperactive Nora.

Ren

Her smile was bright. She was little standing on two melons and had the third one under her arm. That was her castle. She was a simple girl, didn't need much in life. Food mostly, but not much else. Simple Nora, I don't think anyone else would call her that. The people and buildings in town were disappearing. Soon it would just be me and her, and the melons in a white expanse.

This was the signal. It was that time again. The dream was about to end. Any minute now, I'd wake up in my own bed with her face pressed up to mine, screaming that it was morning and that we had classes or training or something like that. I'd ignore her for a while and then she'd follow me to wherever I wanted to go. She was like my shadow. I could always rely on her to be nearby and to help me when I needed it. She was stable like one too. My little pink shadow.


	2. First Meeting

12 Years Ago…

Nora

"Nora, please come up to the front."

"Yes, Ms. Dunce." I moved from my desk to the front of the room. It was show-and-tell. Everyone Friday, before Practice, we would have Show and Tell. It was a chance for everyone to show off their Semblance and for the teacher to explain the powers of Aura.

Aura was life. It was almost as important as dust. It was like the magic inside a person could be brought out just because the person thought about it. I didn't have a Semblance. I couldn't bring out my Aura.

"So, Nora. Have your practiced at home?" I nodded. "Well, then show us what your special power is…"

Everyone was looking at me. The teacher was waiting for me to do something, anything. My body should glow. I should be able to shoot beams out of my eyes or do something cool, but I couldn't do anything. The boys at the back of the class started laughing. They were laughing really hard, but I don't think Ms. Dunce saw them.

After a while, Ms. Dunce got tired of waiting. "Go home and practice your Aura some more. I'll ask you to show us your Semblance again next week. Hong Fa, why don't you come up and show us how much you've mastered your Aura instead?" I ran back to my seat. I could hear everyone else whispering and talking about me.

_What a loser. _

_She can't even activate her aura for a shield. Even babies can do that. _

_Hahaha. Look, she's going to cry. _

They were really loud. Ms. Dunce didn't hear them.

Ren

I took my stance. As a Lie, I knew all forms of fighting, I would win. Opposite me, stood Yang Xiaolong, famous student of teacher Qrow. Everyone knew that. She had special training because they were related or something. I don't really remember.

She was a kickboxer. Everyone knew she was strong. She could lift and throw the other boys in my class. She held her fists in front of her, preparing for our battle. Her smile made it so obvious she thought she would win.

"Yang, Ren, are you ready?"

"Yes Ms. Dunce," We answered together.

Our fight began. I shorter than her so she seemed ready to beat me up, but I wouldn't let her win.

She threw the first kick, aiming at my head. I grabbed her legs and swung her about 180 degrees. She landed on her feet without flinching at all. She ran at full-speed, pulling her arm back to swing at my face. I dodged to the right, pulling her arm with me, and flinging her over my body.

Her body connected to the floor this time, but she didn't seem to feel it at all. She spun herself, trying to get back up. I jumped, my hands grabbing her leg like a beam and doing a cartwheel into her chest. The girls booed me while the boys cheered.

The breath seemed to go out of her, but she got back up. However, she wasn't smiling anymore. She looked angry now. She wobbled a little before coming at me again. It was part of my training to always be patient. To wait for the right moment. She was charging at me now, running with her hands in fists, a few more seconds.

Her punch connected this time, flying directly into my right palm. I could feel a pulse going through my arm. It hurt a lot, but the moment she touched me, I pulled her forward, and slammed my left elbow into her cheek.

Everyone was silent. Blood was coming from Yang's mouth. I'd knocked out one of her teeth. She was crying when she pulled herself up off the floor. She was going to try and hit me again. Ms. Dunce stepped forward, holding out her hand to stop Yang. "The battle is over. The winner of this fight is Lie Ren. Now behave yourselves while I clean Yang up." Ms. Dunce led her away, with tears streaming down her eyes and mixing with the blood in her mouth.

The boys didn't cheer and scream anymore. They weren't looking at me with reverence for beating up the strongest girl in class. They were looking at me with fear.

Nora

"Nora. Nora. Nora."

I looked around before I looked up and saw there was a boy standing in front of me. I didn't know him, but I knew he was in my class. He sat in the second to last row, third chair from the right. Name: Azure Atropa, age 6. He had many friends but he was famous because his best friend was the class bully Dove Bronzewing.

"Hi! I'm Nora. Do you want to play with me?"

He shook his head and laughed. "Do you want this candy bar?" He had a Smackers Bar in his hand.

"Thanks!" I grabbed it and quickly munched it down. It was gooey and crunchy, everything a candy bar should be.

The boy giggled a little before running away back to his friends. I watched him run off, chewing quickly on the chocolate.

Ren

No one talks to me. No one says anything to me. I'm not someone most people like talking to. I don't know how to answer them. Most days I don't answer them so they don't bother talking to me.

I was on the Reading Rug when it happened. Across the room, by the building blocks, Nora Valkyrie started choking. It wasn't very loudly at first, but then she started coughing and crawling toward our teacher.

_"__Someone help me." _

I looked around. No one was paying attention to me. Everyone was focused on Nora. The teacher was standing over, trying to get the girl to use her semblance and force whatever was choking her out. Everyone else was around her, looking at Nora. A lot of the girls looked worried, but Dove Bronzewing and his friends were still laughing quietly at the back. What was going on?

_"__Please, help me." _

I heard it again. No one said anything. Who was talking to me? It wasn't loud, and it was getting softer. Someone was whispering. They were crying too. There wasn't anyone around me. What was going on?

Nora

It was wiggling in my throat. The candy bar had a worm in it. I didn't know. It was wiggling in my throat. It was moving. It was still moving. It wouldn't go down. It wouldn't go anywhere.

The teacher hovered over me. She held my hand and pressed down on my stomach. She was screaming something at me but I didn't hear her. Everyone was screaming and yelling something. The only thing I could do was cough. I kept coughing.

I closed my eyes and that made everything a little better. I didn't have to look at everyone. I didn't have to see the teacher's angry face. I didn't have to be blinded by the lights. Was I going to die? Mommy said that dying was hard and it hurt. She told me to never die. Daddy did too.

_Someone help me. _

"What?" Someone answered me. They said what. I heard them. It was clear, and louder. They said what even louder than the teacher. They were close. They heard me, they would help me if I just taught them how. I wouldn't die. I don't want to die.

_"__Please, help me." _

Ren

I closed my book and walked over to the teacher. All the other people were pushing. They all wanted to know what was happening. I climbed on the shelf. The teacher would normally yell at me for that, for she wouldn't care today. She couldn't see me while she was looking down at Nora.

I looked down at Nora too. I could see her okay from the shelf. I was taller than everyone now that I was crawling on the shelf. Nora had her eyes closed. Her face was all red like a tomato. A leaned over a little more before I lost my footing. I was falling. I was falling off the shelf and onto the desk. I was falling onto Nora.

Nora

Something really hard hit my stomach and I coughed harder this time. Harder than I ever thought I could cough. I opened my eyes and the only things I could see were the really bright lights and really long black hair. I closed my eyes again soon after.

When I woke up again, I was in the nurse's office. Ms. Dunce wasn't there. The nurse was there though. She told me I was okay and that I could go down for recess. I hopped off the bed and wiggled my fingers and toes. I felt better.

My flip flops were on the floor. I put them on before going outside the door. A boy was sitting on the floor. He had long, really soft-looking black hair.

Ren

Nora was wheeled away in a chair. I couldn't focus on my math questions. When it was lunchtime, I walked at the back. No one wanted to stand next to me. We had a hotdog and a banana. I didn't want to eat anything, but I didn't want to waste food. I had a little bit of everything before throwing it away.

When everyone went outside to play, I walked to the nurse's office. What if I killed her? I felt bad. I never felt bad when I hurt someone while fighting. I had hurt a lot of people during Practice. They would bleed and cry but I wouldn't care about them at all. For the first time, I was scared for someone else. What if she never woke up?

The door behind me opened. Nora came out. I'd never really looked at her before. She didn't volunteer to fight during Practice, so it was almost like meeting her for the first time. She looked surprised to see me too.

We didn't say anything. She just kind of looked and me, and I just kind of looked at her. We walked together to play outside.

Nora

Everyone knew him. He was a monster. He killed babies and ate them for breakfast. He beat up girls and took baths with their blood. Lie Ren was a monster. He was scarier than Dove Bronzewing.

But now that I looked at him, he wasn't so scary. He was a little shorter than me, and he looked smart. He walked in front of me, like he was protecting me, and he didn't say anything when I tied up his hair.

Ren

She followed me. When we were going back inside for class, she stood next to me. When I reading the Reading Rug, she tied up my hair. When I was lining up to go home, she stood next to me in line.

I could feel her eyes on the back of my head. After a while, I turned around to look at her.

"My name is Nora." She stuck out her hand. It was tiny, and kind of fat. I shook it, not saying anything. She smiled at me using her entire face. Her eyes were closed, but everything about her radiated happiness. It was the first time anyone ever smiled at me like that.

_I'm happy to be your friend. _

**A/N: I wrote the entirety of this in 2 hours, so if you find any mistakes, please leave a comment.  
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	3. Shattered

**A/N: Happy New Year. This story is set 6 years after Ren and Nora graduate from Beacon. **

Nora  
>I looked down at his lifeless form. I do not remember the last time I saw him open his eyes. It was too long ago. I barely remember the color.<p>

"Nora?"

I didn't answer her. Pyrrha walked silently, like a ghost. It would have seemed impossible that someone in such heavy armor could walk around without any indication. It made it easy to pretend she wasn't there.

"You haven't gone on any missions in months. You haven't even talked to anyone outside this room for over a year..." She said meekly. Pyrrha said the same thing to me every week, but with each week, it seemed she meant it less until the force behind her words had gradually disappeared. "Nora, you have to stop this."

"I don't have to stop anything. I want to be with him."

"Nora! He's gone! Let him go!" Jaune shouted. I wish he'd stopped shouting. He was bothering Ren. Ren, who loved the quiet so much.

"I wonder what he's dreaming about…" I whispered softly, moving his long bangs from his face.

Ren

One more. I can kill one more. There weren't any more. I'd been at this for hours. There weren't any Grimm, but I wanted to fight. I wanted to kill.

I know my friends are worried about me, but it doesn't matter. I was fine. I _am_ perfectly fine. I don't need her. What happened to her was an unfortunate tragedy, but I refuse to mourn over her. Death and loss are perfectly normal things in war.

"Hoooooooowwwwwwwuuuuuu." My body relaxed. Who knew the sound of Grimm could be so calming? I ran in the direction of the howl. It would return to the pack, and when I find them, I'll kill them all. I'll kill them all.

By night, an army of Beowolves had turned to ash and I was alone again. It was quiet enough to think. I didn't want to think. "Nora…"

"You should go see her." A man walked to me from the trees. His face had grown older since we graduated, more mature. A rough beard grew on his chin and he had let his hair grow long, giving him the appearance of a slightly well-kept caveman. It was his forte now to give unwanted advice. "The doctors say she's doing better."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I tried to keep my voice even, but I think some of my bitterness slipped through.

"She might wake up if you see her." He said gently, as if trying to comfort a small child who had lost a toy. I wasn't a child.

"Jaune, you may have been my leader when we were in school, but we are grown men now. I can make my own choices without you and Pyrrha watching my every turn."

"You're making a bad one. Nora got hurt over two years ago, and you haven't been to see her once. You take on countless missions that keeps you as far from Vale as possible. I know you care about her. I know you feel bad for what happened. Why don't you go see her?!"

"Because I don't care." My voice cracked over the last word, the only sign I had been moved, but it was the only sign Jaune needed. He punched me, a direct hit to my left cheekbone. I could've dodged it had I really tried, but perhaps I felt like I deserved it.

"Stop lying to everyone! We all worry about you. We should be worrying about Nora, but we're worried you going to get yourself killed in some form of stupid atonement. The only thing you owe her is a visit. I know you care about her. Just go see her."

Nora

His hair had grown ridiculously long. It almost made me laugh. "I'm going to help you cut your hair Ren, but don't worry, I won't make it as short as mine. You look better with long hair anyway."

I took a comb and started brushing it. Hair always confused me. How could it get tangled when the person didn't move? How did random devil knots just magically appear in someone's hair?

When I was done, a mop of black hair lay on the floor with just a few strands of pink. I always loved his pink hair. At first, it was just streaks of dye but after a while, it stayed pink, and even by the roots it looks pink, like his eyes.

"So Pyrrha just had her second baby. You don't believe how cute it is. It's a boy, but he looks just like his mother. Jaune's one of the best Huntsman out there. But you'd be better if you were here! You'd be the best Huntsmen ever if you were here…" I laid my head on his chest and I dreamt.

That day in the woods. It was so cold. You didn't have enough sleep. You never had enough sleep. That was my fault too. If I didn't keep giving you bad dreams or waking you up in the middle of the night, you would've been fine. We'd gone too far, into Goliath territory. We'd need the both of us together to just take down one. The whole pack would've been impossible. Why did you save me? Why didn't you run?

Ren

I stopped at the door. I didn't want to go in. I didn't want to see her like that. She always hated sleeping. She didn't like the dreams that came with it. Unless I was sleeping with her, she'd have nightmares. She would wake up screaming and crying. I don't want to see this Nora.

"Go…" Pyrraha whispered.

I turned to look at her. "How long have you been standing there?"

"About 10 minutes. Ren, you came back to Vale, you come up to her room, but you don't even have the courage to go in there and see her?

"I can't do it…" My hands won't stop shaking. I can't do it.

"You can. And you will.'' She reaches for my hand and guides it to the door knob. The metal feels cold on my skin. A slight chill runs down my spine. The reflex to move away hits me but I push it back. Slowly, in what feels like hours but was probably only a second, I turn the doorknob and walk in.

Nora lies motionless on the bed. Several wires and tubes are attached to her body, injecting protein, water, and nutrients. A monitor beeps in time with her heart. I felt paralyzed. The scene in front of me didn't make sense. I was thinking but none of what I saw made sense. None of it actually touched my comprehension. The only thought that could made any sense in words was that I've never seen her hair so long in my life.

She had been a redhead as a child, but overexposure to the sun and the pool turned her hair into a coppery orange. She liked it short. I used to help her cut her hair every month, but now it ran down past her chest, nearly to her waist. She wasn't smiling either. She never looked this serious. This wasn't Nora. She looked nothing like Nora. This silent, sleeping corpse wasn't Nora.

I turned to run, but Pyrrha stood in my path. She was using herself and her young daughter as a meat shield. "You've already made it this far. Go talk to her."

I couldn't look at her, much less talk to her. Her eyes are green, like my clothes. I used to think that it was funny. My eyes were pink like her clothes. Now, nothing about her funny. I couldn't smile, I couldn't do anything but think nonsense and gibberish. "Why did you stay and fight with me? I told you run..."

I could only think about that day in the jungle with the Goliaths. We'd gone too far, while looking for the Nevermores. It would have taken all of our strength to kill just one Goliath. With five of them there, the battle was already long over. There was no hope. There was no way we could've won. "...I told you to run..."

Nora

"You looked so handsome and brave. You told me to run, but I didn't. I didn't want to leave you. Maybe if I did, you would've been fine. I was your baggage. It's all my fault. You wouldn't have had to spend so much time and energy protecting me if I had just run."

"In the end we couldn't do anything. You used your semblance for me. We always said that I'd be your hammer, and you'd be my shield. Who knew your shield would break first? It's all my fault. It's all my fault."

The tears fell quickly down my face. I don't know how many times I've cried in this room, but whenever I do, it feels like they burn. They're hot, and they cloud my vision so I can't see him. I try not to cry, but I can't. "I'm so sorry, Ren."

Ren 

"I couldn't protect you. I said I'd protect you." That day in the forest. My shield broke, my semblance gave way and I was done. I couldn't fight with you anymore. You took on all those Goliath by yourself. A tiny girl like you, flying left and right with Magnhild. You looked so strong then.

My vision blurred for a moment. When I went to rub my eyes, my hands came away wet with tears. I was crying. I hadn't cried in years. I actually don't remember the last time I did cry. It was probably before I even met her. "It should've been me. The one in this bed right now should be me..."

Nora

When I woke up again it was dark. My face felt dry, like I'd fallen asleep while crying. The room was empty. Ren wasn't there. I ran out of the room immediately, looking for him. If he wasn't here, that means he was awake. Ren was awake.

The hallways was dark but a few people were walking around. A couple people were in hospital gowns and needed to be led by one of the nurses. A few sleepy doctors were making their rounds. I walked over to one of them.

"I'm looking for the patient in room 305?! His name is Lie Ren!" I was practically screaming. The doctor looked a little taken aback to be addressed so rudely but he said he'd ask the nurses in the office. He walked briskly to a wall telephone and dialed a few digits. After a short conversation, he walked back to me with a slightly nervous expression.

"I'm sorry Miss, but there was never any patient in room 305 to begin with, and the name Lie Ren isn't in any of our records, can we help you with anything else?"


	4. Bacon, Eggs, and Pancakes

**A/N: You can consider this a continuation of shattered.**

* * *

><p><span>Ren<span>

I rolled a die on my desk. Three. I rolled it again and got a five. So my bet was on 3:50. Not bad. That gave me about fifty more minutes until Nora needed to wake up.

I liked to roll dice and pretend the numbers I got meant something. It was calming and a rough sense of the future was nice. It helped me think about as much as shuffling cards did. Which was a lot, but at three in the morning, there wasn't much anyone could do. Not even the jug of coffee in front of me could calm me down.

Nora was sleeping. This was good. She didn't sleep very well. Most days she would need me to sleep beside her, so she could try and control her semblance. When I didn't sleep, she'd have strange dreams and wake up calling for me. When we were younger, I couldn't decipher if she was narcoleptic or an insomniac. I've now decided that she's both.

Two hours, a new record. By now she would've woken up wondering where I was or at least crying. This was peaceful, a welcome change from the normal mumblings. That would be my cue to wake her up before she started screaming. It wouldn't be very smart to wake up Pyrrha and Juane.

Nora

I was in the hallway. Ren wasn't here. He wasn't sleeping. I was alone. Panic.

Ren wasn't sleeping. I had to wake up right now. I started to run. I knew this hallway. I ran and I ran. The exit was somewhere here. It was too dark to see where I was going. I was too afraid to turn. The only thing I could do was keep running forward. Sooner or later, I would reach the next checkpoint.

There was a light up ahead. That was different, and it was a good sign. I reached behind me for Magnhild, but she wasn't there. Okay, that was a bad sign, but this was a dream. One out of two wasn't a bad start. She was bound to be around somewhere. I ran faster.

The light was actually a four-squared window. It was bright outside, the midday sun shining through. Ren was standing on a plane of grass, his back to me. He turned to look at me when I started banging on the window. There was no way he could have heard me. I was at least three floors up and he burning something on the ground: _Magnhild._

Ren

It was 3:20. I had roughly 30 minutes left before Nora would wake up. I was halfway through my history paper for Dr. Oobleck and almost done with highlighting Nora's notes for Defensive Weaponry. She tended to sleep a lot during class. Narcoleptic and all that.

I'd have to start making breakfast soon too. Everyone liked pancakes which made things easy, but that didn't seem like a good long-term plan for the rest of our years at school. We'd been having it too often and their sugar levels just weren't right. Juane needed more meat and Nora could do with less maple syrup. Maybe bacon and omelets. That would hold a lot more protein and I could sneak some vegetables into Nora's portion without much problem.

When we were younger, all the teachers believed that maybe our thoughts were linked. The other kids made fun of her, saying she was going to end up being the monster's bride. Turns out Nora could project her thoughts into other people's minds. While it was useful in combat to send quick messages, it made her dreams turn into a roller-coaster of emotions.

If I was asleep at the same time she was, the likelihood of her having a good dream went up. We would be in the forest and end up making rugs to sell to Juane or something. At worst, we'd end up being partners forever and she'd be throwing tiny bits of cake at my wedding with some faceless humanoid robot. Either way, the dreams were strange but not too alarming. If it turned ugly, I would try to wake her up from the other side. It was fine, just a little draining since it felt too real. My body would wake up the next day exhausted more or less.

It's on nights where she's sleeping alone that I should be scared. On nights like these, her dreams became a maze for her to walk out of.

Nora

I woke up. Ren was sitting at his desk. There were two in the room: One for Juane and Pyrrha, and one for Ren and me, but I never used it, so Ren put all his stuff inside. It was very neat. He normally sat there to work on homework.

"Ren?"

"Yes?" He didn't turn around, but the sound of his voice calmed the storm in my mind. I already felt a little better.

"I had a nightmare. I was in the hallway. It was dark. I didn't know where to go. I didn't see you and I didn't have Magnhild. I was so scared. You…Why didn't you sleep?"

"Because I'm sick of you."

I started to laugh before I realized what he said. I sucked in a deep breath. "Ha, what?" I reached for his arm but he moved out of my grasp. He never liked anyone touching him but he couldn't really mean that. He couldn't really be sick of me.

"Shut up."

I didn't say anything. I wasn't obeying him. I just couldn't think of anything to say. I normally didn't listen to anything Ren had to say anyway. He didn't say very much, but he said every word was important which means nothing he said was REALLY important.

"You're annoying. It's always the same dreams. You always have the same nightmares. I'm tired Nora. I don't want to deal with you anymore. Take care of you own nightmares and leave me alone."

Ren

I sighed. 3:45. I had five minutes maximum.

I walked quietly over to her bed. Hers was right next to mine, with a shelf in between the four, separating her from Pyrrha. My bed was next to the wall, which wasn't a bad formation. It gave me some breathing room, but I could reach over to her if need be. This was one of those nights when this was important. She was sweating. It was starting. She was mumbling too. Incoherent gibberish, most of it. However, she also said my name sometimes.

I sat on the side of her bed, her head in my lap. Had it been anyone else, this sort of position would have made me uncomfortable. However, I was the closest thing to family that Nora had left. More accurately, she was akin to my helpless younger cousin that no one wanted.

Her mumbling got a little louder, not enough to wake anyone up, but it was a warning. I didn't have much time left.

She would start off in the hallway. This happened in every one of her nightmares. The hallway would always be the beginning. It was one she had walked in when she was a child. She was actually quite wealthy before her house burned down, or so she tells me. She could be lying but I'll never know. It was the next part the dream that could be problematic. Sometimes, it would be me dying, or she'll dream about her parents. If it was a really bad dream she'd be in Signal when were still kids. Those were some of her worst memories.

However, even that part would end. It was in the last part of the dream that I'll have to wake up. She's going to dream about a strange situation in which the two of us would be in a coma. We're older, nearly thirty. We lose a fight to a stampede of Goliaths and she ends up in a cycle of dreams while I try waking her up from her coma. When I fail, I leave her all alone and travel the world in search of reprieve from the guilt and disappointment.

I've never understood this last part. She'd never even seen a Goliath except in books but she could describe them to even the smallest minute detail. It's all a little bit impossible.

3:50. I start to shake her. "Nora."

Nora

I really do wake up this time. I'm sure of it. Ren's hair is normal. Just a tiny strand of pink. The room is dark, but there's a little bit of a sunlit sky outside. I hate these dreams.

"Ren?" He nodded a little. His hand on my forehead. It was cold. He probably didn't sleep at all. "I had that nightmare. Why didn't you sleep?"

"I can't always wake you up when we sleep."

"But I don't have them when you sleep with me. If you slept, we wouldn't have this problem to begin with." I was being a brat and I knew it. But Ren had the patience of a saint. He wouldn't mind me being a little bratty. He would forgive me. He always forgave me.

"You do. You forget when you wake up. Go back to sleep Nora. I'll sleep with you this time. We'll talk when you wake up. We have to leave in a few hours for our mission."

"Okay." He moved back to his own bed. It looked perfectly made and cold. That must be nice. His pink eyes watched me, waiting for me to fall asleep. "Ren?"

"Hmm…"

"Will you get sick of me someday? And not care about me anymore?"

He was silent for a minute, and the silence dragged. It felt a lot longer than a minute. The entire day could've passed in that minute with all that it held and unnerved. "I'm already sick of you. You never listen, and you always do what I don't want you to do, but I still care."

"So you're not going to leave me?"

He sighed. "No, Nora. I'm not going to leave you. But I am going to sleep, and you should too. I'll make you bacon and eggs in the morning."

"No. I want pancakes."

"You're getting bacon and eggs."

I could feel myself smiling as I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Next chapter will be the last one. If you have any requests, I'd appreciate the ideas.**


	5. Waking Dream

**A/N: This final chapter will be told between the perspectives of Nora and Pyrrha **

Nora

Everything can change in one measly night. Everything did change in that one night. I'm all alone now.

Pyrrha

We watched her from a distance. Juane and I. She doesn't move. She doesn't speak. It's as if she lost a part of herself that day. It was a normal one. Nothing too special. The two of them woke up before Juane and me. They would be making breakfast. A normal morning.

Nora wanted pancakes. Ren decided we needed more nutrition in our bones and started making bacon and eggs instead. It was true. Nora could eat towers of pancakes and yet somehow walk away without any of the proteins and vitamins she needed. It didn't help that she needed a new bottle of syrup every 2 days.

That won't happen anymore. We'll never be able to wake up to the smell of Ren making breakfast ever again.

Nora

I was being stupid. I'm always being stupid. If I didn't exist, if it wasn't because of me, he would still be here. He'd be strong. He'd be alive. It's always because of me.

Pyrrha

"Shouldn't we do something? She's been sitting there for three days. She only moves to go to the bathroom. Look! She hasn't even been eating the pancakes we make for her. She loves pancakes." Juane was nearly frantic. He wasn't prepared for this kind of situation. Fighting giant monsters? Maybe, but the death of a teammate and the subsequent emotional distress of everything else was not what he signed up for.

"They're not the same." I answered. "How could our pancakes ever be compared to his?"

Juane didn't answer me. I think he understood these kinds of things better than most people gave him credit for. His anxious face told me he didn't know what to do, but he was pretty much willing to try any awkward thing to break this tension.

"Give her some time. Ren was very important to her. She's not going to be able to accept it overnight."

"Problem is, she wouldn't try the overnight cure even if it existed. She's not even sleeping at night. She keeps her headphones on and just stares at Ren's bed.

"Did you know they had dreams together?"

He looked prepared to say something else, but I think my question threw him off track. "What?"

"Nora. Her semblance is thought projection. When she slept, she projected dreams. She'd drag us into them, but neither of us more than Ren. She dragged him into them every night unless he was awake the whole time. That's probably what happened that night. He stayed up too late. He was too tired. That's why he made a mistake like that. Do you honestly think someone as careful as Ren could put tomatoes in his own omelet when he's allergic to them?"

"I had no idea," he whispered. He felt ashamed. We slept in the same room as them every night, but he had no idea this was happening. It's not a surprise he'd feel a little humbled that all this happened without his knowledge.

"Last night was one of those nights. Ren slept at about four after she woke up from her nightmare, and even then, he had to deal with the antics of her Ursa dream. The one she told us about, where they were in the woods and had to make a ton of Lien selling the skin as rugs even though it's preposterous. I doubt he got any real sleep at all."

Nora

You should be here. Ren. _Ren._ **Ren.** I want to be with you.

Pyrrha

It was a surprise to us then that the next time she went to the bathroom, she came out, fully dressed in her combat clothes. It was the first time in days that anyone had seen her in anything except her pajamas. Juane looked just as relieved as I felt.

She looked as if she had showered too, which was a good sign. Her eyes were clear, but sad. The look nearly transformed her face into that of a stranger. Nora was rarely ever sad, but even then, her eyes would be clouded with ideas and thoughts, and plans. She lived in a future that none of us ever saw. Never, had they looked so empty and…present.

"I want to see Ren." Those were the first words she's said in a little over 78 hours.

Nora

I had skipped the memorial service. That night, they lit candles for a vigil. Many of the students had been there. I was not one of them. This would be my first time looking at his grave. I would never see his face again.

Pyrrha

He was buried behind the school. It was full of graves, of Huntsman and Huntresses who had died in battle. It is an honor to be buried here. Ren should not have been, as he never graduated. Ozpin made an exception in light of his family. The insisted.

Nora didn't say a word. She was simply staring, as if she couldn't understand what she was seeing. It made sense, in a logical way. I had wanted to grieve as well, but I didn't have time for that. If I were to grieve, then the team would break down.

Nora has yet to. Even now, she does not cry. Her face doesn't depict any emotion, so very different from her everyday life. She is normally abundant with emotions, perhaps even the tiny ones who are nameless because so few have felt them. But now, her face is drained of any emotion at all.

Nora

I want to be with him. _I _want to be with _him. _

Pyrrha

Juane could be a great leader, but his heart isn't strong enough yet. They, no she will look to me as a leader until he is. She has no one else to turn to but me and a leader she does not acknowledge as her leader. Her best friend is gone. We are all she has left, and looking at her now, I am afraid that we are not enough for her. I am afraid that without him, the Nora that we know and loved will cease to exist.

There is a small smile on her face, but not her usual smile. This ghost smile is one I've never seen before, because she is crying. She is holding her sides, and crying silently into the tombstone of her best friend. Her smile eating away at her tears that don't seem to stop. She was the textbook definition of the bereaved.

Nora

The words do not come to me. How did I live before I met Ren? I already know the answer to this question, because I dream about it at night. We met as children. He saved me, both mentally and physically. I was alone, and he saved me with his friendship and pancakes. I was dying, and he saved me by belly flopping onto my tiny body so the worms would come out.

Before I met him, I was hated. I was rejected. No one wanted me. A huntress-in-training who didn't even have a semblance. A girl who couldn't unlock her aura. I was useless. Ren made me strong, and now that he is gone, I am useless once more. It doesn't matter now that I can use my semblance and have Magnhild.

"Ren used to tell me that we were masters of our own fate. The only thing that stopped us from doing all that we wanted was time. I always lived by his words. I did as much as I could, as happily as I could, with as little time as possible."

I don't know who I was talking to. Maybe I was talking to them, but I think it was mostly to myself. I looked at his grave and I acknowledged it, this time. It was a grave. Ren was gone. He was never coming back.

"The last thing he ever said to me was that he'd make me bacon and eggs in the morning."

I stabbed myself in the chest.

Pyrrha

One minute, she was fine. I wasn't scared for that one minute, but in the next, she pulled out an incredibly ornate dagger. It was barbaric. Weapons like those didn't exist anymore. I rushed to her.

"Juane, call an ambulance, call Goodwitch! Nora! Nora! What are you doing?! Your aura, stop. Stop it. Use your Aura. Nora!"

When her eyes closed, I nearly started crying, but she was still breathing. We had a chance. I wasn't going to let her go. She can't die here.

"_Juane_" I was seething. He hadn't moved. He seemed as if he was frozen with fear. There was no time. I lifted her up in my arms bridal-wise. She was smallest girl in our group. She was light. I had to find Goodwitch or Ozpin. I needed to find someone. Anyone. I had to save her.

Nora 

Ren…

I used to have nightmares, that one of us would leave the other someday. I never wanted to be the one left behind. I didn't want you to be left behind either. I wanted us to die together.

_Keep your eyes open. _

Ren….I want to see you.

Pyrrha

I'd made it to the infirmary. By some struck of luck, we'd run into Goodwitch as soon as we walked into the hall. She stopped the bleeding with her magic almost immediately. Nora would live. She would wake up as soon as her body and her mind wanted was what the nurses said.

We sat by her bed now. I was here now. Juane went back to the room to get something. Still nothing from him.

"Nora…used to listen to music a lot. I brought her headphones." Juane spoke quietly. He was still a little shy after what happened earlier. He couldn't respond quickly enough and he couldn't help. That powerlessness scared him.

He put them over her ears, the music loud enough for even us to hear.

_Tell me something _

_Tell me whose the loneliest of all. _

_What's inside me. _

_Tell me can a heart be turned to stone? _

I knew this song, and I knew it then. Nora would never wake up. She didn't want to.

**A/N: This chapter was originally going to be very different, but after Monty Oum died, this chapter basically wrote itself in his wake. I scrapped the original, and this was the result. This chapter is dedicated to his life, his work, and his memory. We, the fans, loved you Monty, and we miss you. We hope that with whatever the afterlife consists, you are happy. **


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